The Void Emperor

This forest can hardly be considered as one because of strong b.l.o.o.d.y stench and rivers of different kinds of blood flowing here and there.

At first sight, it can be very nauseating but after a few times, one gets used to it, especially if you were trapped in here for the whole four years.

What was once the soul-stirring scene, now is like a good morning to Ryuu and Tenko.

Asura Ryuu: "Shh, we"re close"

A hushed voice could be heard accompanied by a glance to the side where Tenko in a fox form was standing, sniffing and baring her teeth while brandishing her claws, only to be followed by a slight nod as an answer.

What once used to be a pure and naive cheerful little fox, now became a bloodthirsty predator prepared to pounce on its prey at any given moment.

A place very befitting of its name is where both of them now are, as their journey is closely coming to an end in several meanings. The place they are in now is called the b.l.o.o.d.y Valley.

As for its name, there"s nothing more to be said as it implies clearly its meaning.

Asura Tenko: "Let"s end it once and for all, I"m getting sick of this".

An angry and harsh voice that once used to be very energetic now resembled a worn-out thing, left aside to rot and used minimally.

It would be strange if nothing happened in this G.o.d-forsaken place where primal laws of jungle dominate.

Eat or be eaten, those who do not adapt shall perish.

Tenko had to go through a complete turnaround just in order to survive and protect Ryuu.

Why protect you say?

Wasn"t Ryuu supposed to be like very very strong?

He "was", but after the first several days all of his abilities disappeared like an illusion and left him in a heavy and depressed mood.

It felt like a runner suddenly losing his legs - a feeling of a cripple.

His thoughts then were: " What"s the f.u.c.king use of rare dual soul spirits if you can"t even use them?!"

Luckily, his lover was always there to support him, but soon enough the situation reversed and the one who supported the other was Ryuu.

Why did that happen? Neither of them knew, but one thing was sure.

They had to survive and conquer this forest if they wanted to leave.

Even now, as Ryuu was nearing the end of this nightmare and Valley of Suffering, instead of being happy he still had a bit of depressed mood lingering around himself.

All of it happening because of one simple reason - for the whole four years neither did his soul spirits return nor did the Ancestors awaken.

Asura Ryuu: "Um, let"s get the h.e.l.l out of here as soon as possible".

A worn-out voice agreed as both of them rushed out only to be greeted by a colossal form of a giant snake nearing a transformation to a dragon.

Needless to say a pressure heavy enough to crumble even the stone smashed on them instantly rooting them in place.

All of their plans failed in one seemingly short moment, which for them represented an eternity as all of their lives resurfaced in that split second and intense despair filled them to the brim.

A ma.s.sive snake was already slithering towards them slowly but steady as the pressure increased bit by bit nailing them even harder into the ground.

Asura Ryuu: " Sorry, Tenko."

As the heavy despairing voice fell, Tenko turned her head in its direction only to see the teary-eyed Ryuu sinking slowly to the ground.

Asura Tenko: "Why now of all times?"

Asura Ryuu: "Sorry... for being a useless piece of s.h.i.t. I swore to protect you for eternity but look at me now I"m no better than a waste. I can"t even keep myself alive not to mention protecting you. Sorry for everything".

As his "last words" fell, Tenko was already shaking while tears poured out from her eyes like a river while slowly turning red and transforming to the tears of blood.

Asura Tenko: " Fool. What"s the use of telling me this."

She said as b.l.o.o.d.y tears splashed on the already b.l.o.o.d.y ground. It was unknown whether the blood was already formed from her tears of it was already there from a long time ago.

Asura Tenko: "Your surname is Asura, you are proud and unyielding, why now of all times you decide to give up and let go of your dreams and promises? You promised me that we"d go visit the vast sky and explore the universe together. You promised we"d become G.o.ds together! Why do you let it all go now??? Were those memories all a lie?"

As soon as she finished a very heavy feeling appeared in Ryuu"s heart while Red color began emerging in his pupils.

The Red signifies extreme emotions. As all of the emotions surged at once, overflowing and making his blood boil, a strong unyielding feeling appeared on Ryuu prompting him to slowly resist a colossal pressure and stimulate his potential.

All of this was, of course, being observed by Shiro from afar.

Her heart already tightly clutched from sadness.

"Was I wrong" she thought.

While time was slowly ticking away, Ryuu managed to get up on his two legs firmly rooted in the ground to the knees.

Suddenly a familiar feeling spread as a surge of power manifested within his veins.

A short moment later the already slithering snake was rooted in a place heavily shaking as if seeing a real dragon.

Of course, it was not just "as if" - Ryuu"s soul spirits began awakening again.

------

At the same time somewhere in a pitch-black s.p.a.ce, a floating form of a dragon merged with darkness had a surprised expression.

???: "Oh?"

???: "He really did not fail my expectations ..."

???: "Hahahahaha, good, good, good. Very good. He is worthy!!"

???: "I knew I"d never judge wrongly but just in case I had to make him go through so much suffering ..."

A dark dragon made a sad apapologetic expression.

Could a dragon have expression though? Maybe not if judged by common sense, but in that s.p.a.ce anything is possible.

???: "I"ll have to think of a way to apologize later, but now we have a more important business ... Well, time to end it".

-----

Just as Ryuu was about to successfully awaken both of his sleeping soul spirits, an intense soul-stirring feeling washed over his whole boy as he limply fell down on the ground unable to move even an inch.
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He didn"t even notice what made him this way but one thing is sure - no ordinary thing can interrupt his unparalleled soul spirits much less influence his soul.

As he realized that his short life is nearing the end intense despair struck his heart invoking different kinds of emotions and all of a sudden ~ .....

Every emotion disappeared, his feeling faded away from his own body and complete calmness replaced it.

What Ryuu didn"t notice, however, was that his pet.i.te body was slowly being lifted from the ground and floating upwards.

As he stopped at a meter and a half from the ground, an intense pain a.s.saulted his brain, originating from the place where his heart was supposed to be.

Slowly turning his head downwards he saw a pitch-black chain extending from his chest all the way to the certain point in the air and vanishing at that point.

Around his body a tight black dragon had been coiling up until that moment as if trying to snap him in half, however, did he notice any of it?

No. He didn"t, as for why he didn"t notice it, obviously, the reason is the intense despair having a.s.saulted him up until that moment.

???: "Calm down".

A fuzzy voice came from his side. As he slowly glanced in that direction, he noticed that Tenko had an extended hand with palm and fingers gesturing a "grabbing" motion, her hand coated in the pitch-black matter that slid down like water.

That voice pulled him back to reality, making him forgo all of his worries and a feeling of relief washing over his soul.

But.....

As an Ilusion, everything around him collapsed. The world, s.p.a.ce, b.l.o.o.d.y streams, horrifying roars of spirit beasts everything was gone, only to be replaced by a vast colorful forest seemingly coming straight from a fantasy. Chirping birds and cheerful cries of spirit beasts filled his head.

Something deep inside of himself felt moved at this moment, albeit unclear to himself why.

The feeling of waking up from a terrifying nightmare, that is what Ryuu felt at this moment.

As he slowly adapted to the surroundings, his rationality came back. At this point, there was no black chain penetrating his heart, and black dragon coiled around himself had already returned to his body merging with his heart.

Asura Ryuu: "Who are you, you are not the Tenko I know.... and where are we? What happened just now?"

???: "Calm down. You are too perturbed right now. I"ll answer all of your questions".

???: "First of all, you shouldn"t ask me who am I, as you should already know the answer to that question."

???: "Moving on, we are outside of the Illusion Realm you were in for the past six years."

???: "And about what happened..."

Here, the "Tenko" stopped for a moment as apologetic expression surfaced on her face.

???: "... what happened up until this moment is all my doing, although it went way past the initial planned time."

While listening to the fuzzy voice, which seemed neither male nor female, Ryuu couldn"t find it in himself to get angry at "its" answers to his questions.

Asura Ryuu: "I should know who are you?"

Ryuu made a confused expression as he slowly observed the figure in front of himself. He didn"t find anything strange with it except for a different aura and voice.

Ryuu: "Wait, Aura? Why does it seem that her Aura is different?", he thought.

As he thought of that point, suddenly a shocking expression overwrote his previous, clam expression.

His hand was already unconsciously moving to the position of his heart, as his spiritual power concentrated on his heart.

*Thump* *Thump*

.

.

.

.

*THUMP!!*

As he felt the aura of the black dragon inside of his heart, his pupils fiercely contracted while staring at "Tenko" with exactly the same aura as of a black dragon.

???: "That"s right, you see. I"m ... you."

*THUMP!!!~~~*

A loud heartbeat only Ryuu could hear resounded deep within himself.

An inexplicable sense of closeness and excitement spread from within urging him to let out the furious roar to the sky, but he suppressed it in hope to find out more about himself.

Asura Ryuu: "You are.. me?", he asked making a confused expression on purpose.

???: "What you feel, I feel too, there"s no need to pretend. I"ll explain it slowly but first..."

As "Tenko" said that, her graceful posture bowed down at 90 degrees towards Ryuu.

???: "Sorry. Sorry for making you suffer all those years for my own reasons, I didn"t me~"

Asura Ryuu: "Don"t apologize. I don"t mind anything you"ve done, just explain it all." Ryuu suddenly said, interrupting her in the middle of apologizing.

A seemingly surprised expression appeared on her little face as she slowly lifted her head.

???: "You don"t mind anything I do? Why is that?"

Asura Ryuu: "Because You and I are one, didn"t you already say?"

*THUMP!*

Another loud heartbeat appeared in Ryuu"s mind, but this time it wasn"t his.

A shocked expression lingered on "Tenko" in front of himself as a translucent tear slid down her cheek and fell on the green gra.s.s which danced according to the wind.

???: "Thank you..."

A gentle yet seductive female voice answered, shaking Ryuu"s heart.

A sweetness of that voice, like gentle waves. .h.i.tting the sh.o.r.e, like a gentle breeze, yet magnetic and containing a bit of a demonic charm, filled his mind as everything stagnated.

His purple eyes were already visibly trembling as the pupils began slowly turning to the vertical beast"s eyes.

His pure white hair slowly began changing its color to the black and finally remaining half-black, half-white.

Compared to the external change, however, his innermost feelings had an even more obvious change.

Longing.

Love.

Excitement.

Relief.

Familiarity.

He didn"t know why, but suddenly there were all of those feelings inside of himself, almost making his heart burst from all the pressure.

???: "As an apology, here."

She said, slowly approaching forward as their hearts began racing faster and faster.... and suddenly a strong black light burst forth as green cracks formed on her skin, like a shattered mirror.

What happened next was the moment Ryuu would never forget in his life, branded deep within his mind, breathtaking, magnificent, overwhelming, unexplainable, ..... beautiful.